Taxonomy and distribution of bumblebees (Hymenoptera: Apidae) of district Skardu, Gilgit Baltistan

abstractSurvey was conducted in different localities of district Skardu, Gilgit Baltistan during the year of 2016-2017 to record species composition belonging to genus Bombus Latreille 1802. It was discovered that 11 species distributed over 8 subgenera of the family Apidae under subfamily Apinae, tribe Bombini occurring in this region. The subgenera, Alpigenobombus, Bombus and Melanobombus were represented by two species namely Bombus breviceps Smith, Bombus kashmirensis Friese; Bombus lucorum subsp jocobsoni (Skorikov), Bombus s. str. tunicatus Smith; Bombus rufofasciatus Smith, Bombus semenovianus (Skorikov) respectively. While subgenera Orientalibombus, Psithyrus, Pyrobombus, Sibiricobombus and Subterraneobombus were represented by a single species each namely Bombus haemorrhoidalis Smith, Bombus ferganicus (Radoszkowski), Bombus lepidus Skorikov, Bombus asiaticus Morawitz and Bombus melanurus Lepeletier respectively in the survey area. Host plants for each species were also recorded from the studied areas. Key to the identification of female bumblebees subgenera and species have been constructed for district Skardu Baltistan.